Post by Johanna Winters on Aug 30, 2011 11:30:42 GMT -5
Name:
Johanna Rose Winters
Age:
Sixteen
Birthdate/place: [dd-mm-yyyy]
12/December/2005,
Upper Flagley, Yorkshire, England
Species:
Human
Gender:
Female
Family:
Johanna comes from a pureblood family.
Appearance:
Build/height-
Short, standing at about 4'10'', and still in the early stages of puberty, basically without any womanly curves as of yet aside from one at her chest that is now slightly noticeable, and another about her hips.
General Description- [Include eye and hair color]
Although rather small and lithe, Johanna tends to carry herself as if she was much taller and much more..intimidating; she found early on that by doing so other students were less likely to pick on you for anything (including your odd size). Aside from her short stature, her hair also often gets her noticed. It's generally messy and often times assumed dirty, hanging about her shoulders in loose, tangled curls and is a very bright, silvery yellow color. Her eyes, contrasting her bright mess of hair, are dark grey with a few dark brown specks. Johanna's attire varies slightly, as she is usually in her robes and uniform while at school, but occasionally does wear muggle clothing while away from Hogwarts and sometimes, maybe during holidays and outings.
Possessions-
A large, old picture album that she keeps hidden in a box under her bed along with a few of her family's belongings that were given to her. She also keeps a separate box of letters from her father and his journal under there, that one she keeps locked.
Personality:
Temperment/Mental Attributes-
At first glance Johanna seems like nothing more than the slightly strange, rather cold girl who generally only raises her voice to stand up for herself or prove someone else wrong. However, behind the relatively thick wall she puts up, she is an incredibly loyal, courageous, and adventurous young woman.
To be quite honest, the young girl doesn't have many friends at all as of yet. She has been trying harder more recently to be friendlier to those she doesn't consider close or trustworthy, but..well, it hasn't exactly worked out. It's not like she never had friends, she had a good handful before her mother died and her father was sent to Azkaban; she was rather well liked before the incident. Afterward, though, she noticed how people changed and how those who had absolutely nothing to do with her suddenly had some sort of weird sympathy friendship with her and the people who were already her friends, well, they pitied her and they babied her. She hated it, plain and simple, so she decided to put an end to all of it; by telling lies. The story changed, she was not the daughter of the crazed Wizard murdered who had killed his own wife of many years, they just happened to have the same surname.
After this, she quickly began to push her friends and potential friends away and close herself off. She didn't want to be bothered with it, or anything, and that's how she is to this day. She refuses to let others in, and usually doesn't say much unless people are having a go at her or..occasionally someone else, or if she has the opportunity to prove someone wrong in some way, form, or fashion. Her inhibitions do tend to lower when she is exhausted, however, so those around her when her when she has gone far too long without sleep might see a different side.
Although it takes a lot of effort, there are those who break down those walls she puts up and get to the real Johanna. Truly, she's a relatively sweet girl who loves to joke, and is incredibly curious about the world around her. She loves to explore, and find new things, have little adventures and what not. She is also very close to nature, almost always preferring to be outside no matter what the weather is. When it comes to schooling, she isn't a top notch student, but she isn't on the edge of failing any of her classes either; she's basically an average student and is perfectly okay with that. Art is very important to her, whether it be some form of physical or visual art or music. She loves it all. Johanna does draw, however, and likes to think she is okay at it..at least that's what her grandmother tells her.
Deep down she pushes others away because she is aware of how easy it was for her previously to trust someone the moment they showed any sort of interest in her, and she is very afraid of getting hurt or believing obvious lies simply because she trusts someone almost stupidly. But as much as she would like to sometimes she simply can't resist the allure of making friends, of letting people in, trusting them; especially when those people are persistent enough to break away her shell.
Alliance-
Not really an ally to any specific faction or group, Johanna will be loyal to and try to help anyone that she agrees with, or helps her.
Alignment-
Neutral Good
Strengths
Weakness:
Employment&Education:
-Students-
House-
Gryffindor (not set on this, if you see her fitting in somewhere else then you are free to change it! Just let me know!)
Year-
Fifth
Other:
Magical Skills-
Johanna is an alright duelist, but is occasionally rather slow on the draw. She is very connected to nature and animals, which helps in certain areas.
Patronus- A wolf, something that reminds her of her father as it was always his favorite animal as well as his patronus (although the latter is currently unknown to her).
Wand- 9 1/2 Hawthorn with Hippogriff feather core. Rather sturdy with a slight spring to it. Also a bit worn and roughed up, as it was passed down from her father.
Goals/Aspirations-
At the moment Johanna doesn't have many goals, aside from being content with her life and finish schooling at Hogwarts. She would love to be an artist, or work for the Ministry in some form, or fashion.
Other Information-
History-
I hope you don't mind how this is written, I wanted to try something different and I was interested in writing in a journal form. I've made sure to hit all of the important parts of her life, and put in as much detail as I could.
December 11th, 2005
Early morning
Rose has been complaining of abdominal pains, presumably contractions, for a day or so now but they were far apart and no where near the severity either of us expected for full-blown labor. Our nursemaid only confirmed it when we contacted her, so we haven't been too concerned. Today, however, they are only minutes apart and painful enough to hinder Rose's ability to move or even speak on occasion, we can only assume (and hope) that this means the little one will be here soon.
Late afternoon
Our nursemaid arrived a few hours ago and began preparation for the child to arrive, and my Rose is currently resting (as much as she possibly can) at the moment after hours of particularly intense labor. I was told that by the end of the day I would have the pleasure of meeting my child, my Johanna or Joseph.
December 12th, 2005
Late morning
I made sure to take down the time, as did our nursemaid, my darling daughter was born into this world. I met my Johanna Rose (it was my decision, as well as a surprise, to use my wife's name) this morning at 4:37 AM. She's beautiful, absolutely perfect in every way, and particularly quiet when it comes to her crying; something I'll have to get use to as all of my younger siblings and infants I've spent time around were screamers. Perhaps she'll get louder over time. It's hard to say who she resembles most, but I see much more of lovely Rose in her than myself.
June 20th, 2006
Early afternoon
I've neglected my journal for some time now, but I simply cannot tear myself away from Johanna. It's bad enough having to leave her and Rose while I work, I couldn't imagine spending time by myself instead of spending every free second of my time with her. She is just over six months along now, and is most definitely a miniature Rose when it comes to appearance so far. She's still a relatively quiet infant, and compared to the other children I've been around, very easy to take care of. We began taking her for short strolls a month or so ago and she perks up while outside, I figured it was all the new colors and smells and noises. It's slow around our part of Upper Flagley, not too loud and boisterous, and the small amount of people who like to roam about are very friendly. Perfect for Johanna.
October 23rd, 2006
Evening
Johanna and Rose are already asleep, and I plan on joining them soon but I felt the need to update this little book first. Again, it's been a few months, but I figured I wouldn't be able to keep up once Johanna was around. She's gotten much more lively now that she can move around on her own, and is even walking unaided for a few minutes before falling or deciding that crawling is safer. She gets into everything, such a curious little girl, and is now incredibly interested in the cat that we keep. We try to keep her away from it, afraid she will try to hurt it or scare it and end up being hurt herself, but the cat seems just as interested in her. She says mama and dada now, her first being mama. We think that she's been trying to say cat recently, which isn't a surprise with how much her mother and I have been saying it.
December 12th, 2006
Early evening
Not going to write a lot as I am exhausted and need to get Johanna to bed. Just wanted to update on my darling daughter's first birthday. The three of us, as well as my parents, spent part of the day at my shop celebrating and then came home to have a warm dinner and a bit of cake. Jo wasn't particularly happy with the mess she made with the cake she was given, but I believe she had fun. She says cat now, constantly. I also wanted to make a note of how strange Rose has been acting lately, perhaps she's not feeling well..
December 23rd, 2010
Huh, I completely forgot about this little thing. I found it today in my desk drawer and I've obviously neglected it for years. Well, my little Johanna is five now. She is a little ball of energy, and is already giving me gray hairs. She loves being outside, exploring, and has just recently realized that she can climb things without help and can avoid getting into trouble for such if she jumps off the object before her mother or myself catch her. She's already skinned up her knees and hands twice this week, I'm just waiting for a broken arm. She's starting to show early signs of magical ability, which is no surprise, but it's nothing concrete or major. It could also be me wanting her to be just as magical as the rest of her family and making things up, however. I see that I mentioned Rose's odd behavior in my last entry and I am sad to say that such behavior only continues. In the years since Johanna's birth she has slowly withdrawn inside of herself, being rather quiet and mousy, which is nothing like the Rose I know. It seems more and more each year she is spending less time with Johanna and I, and more time on her own. I've asked her about it several times and it only ends in arguements, so now I try to avoid the issue as much as possible. I worry about her, and I believe Johanna is beginning to as well.
In the years between this entry and the next, Mr. Winters continued to write weekly, updating little things and commenting on his wife's odd behavior. Johanna only continued to be adventurous and rather rambunctious as she grew. Each year she was granted more freedom when it came to roaming about outside on her own, and she would venture further and further into the shallow woods behind their small home in Upper Flagley. Usuallly her father joined her, but there were times when she went on her own (without permission). Her magical abilities came through in odd ways, she was able to almost tame wild animals for a very short periods of times so she could touch, pet, or even feed the small creatures in the woods around her home. Mrs. Winters, for some time, only grew farther apart from her little family until Johanna was about eight. She went to Mr. Winters, explaining that she had missed the days when it was just the two of them, spending their free time out and about. He was understanding and began to ask his parents to watch Johanna for a few hours every week while he and Rose spent some time alone. Things seemed to get better, and Rose was involved in the lives of her husband and daughter once again. Things were back to normal.
July 30th, 2016
Afternoon
This morning Johanna received her acceptance letter to Hogwarts, which is the school both my wife and I graduated from, as well as my father. It is very exciting, and Johanna has been bouncing off the walls all day long and re-reading the letter over and over. It's so nice to see her so happy about going off to school, I think she'll be a little more nervous when she realizes she won't be around her family as much as she has been. I know I will miss her dearly, as will her mother and her grandparents. Speaking of that, I can't help but notice how attached Johanna has gotten to my mother, the two of them are utterly adorable together. It's so sweet. I told her today about this little journal of mine, and of course she immediately wanted to read it. I explained it was private things, but if she would write me everyday while she was at school I would add her letters to the book. As far as I can tell, that made her rather happy and she promised me she'd write every single day, although I'm sure it'll be more a weekly or monthly thing. She's so excited, the whole family is.
After this entry Mr. Winters stopped recording his own writings, pasting Johanna's letters on the blank pages instead.
September 20th, 2016
I miss you and mother so horribly, I didn't realize how hard it would be being apart from home. But it isn't all bad, I've made a few friends already and I've spent a good deal of time with them outside of class as well as during class. Speaking of that, I was sorted in Gryffindor! The hat, the magical one they put on me, mentioned you. It told me you had been sorted into Gryffindor as well, but I still can't remember where mother said she had been sorted. Ravenclaw, wasn't it? I love all of my classes so far, although some of them have been a little tough but I think I'll settle in later on in the year. I miss you, and I miss mother. You're going to let her read these too, right? I want her to read them too. I'm sure she's just as interested in what I'm doing here. And ask her to write me as well, please? I'd like to hear from her..
With lots of love,
Johanna.
Her letters weren't much different from that during her first year. Simple ramblings from an eleven year old, really. Her father would write back, but it was never very much. He was keeping himself busy with the store and it seemed now that Johanna wasn't around, Rose was much more interested in spending time with her husband. She even started going to work with him, following him about and helping as much as she could, clinging and cuddling, not exactly things she had done since long before Johanna was born. He found it strange, but thought it was because it had been the first time in a very long time that it was simply the two of them again. Her mother never wrote her, said that it was enough that her father was writing and she didn't want to waste parchment and ink. Johanna decided to go home for the holidays her first year, as many students would, as she beyond homesick by the time holiday rolled around.
Her father didn't write during the holiday, seeing as it took up time he could be spending with his family. Rose started to act strange again. She seemed to be almost constantly frustrated with Johanna, any little thing she did wrong would end in severe punishments. There were times when Rose made up things to punish Johanna for, and of course when Mr. Winters would step in it would only cause a fight between the two. That seemed to happen more often, and more often Johanna found herself in her room listening to the muffled screams of her parents as they fought.
Her parent's relationship was still a bit rocky when Johanna returned the school, and she tried her hardest to write home more often with that in mind. Her father continued to paste her letters in his journal, but now he would hardly ever return them. If he did it was only to tell her how much he missed her, as did her mother, and how much the two of them loved her. It worried her. Sure, before now he had never wrote a book when replying to her letters, but he had certainly always wrote more than that.
February 12th, 2017
Late evening
Rose is asleep, and even though I wanted to keep this strictly Johanna's letters until she returned home from school, I decided that I needed to write. I thought that maybe it would help calm me down and realize that what Rose is doing is understandable, fixable, something I can help her with. But I don't even know where to start with her. It's like she loathes her own daughter, or maybe I'm just so infatuated with Johanna that I can't see past her being innocent to notice that she's done something worth the punishments Rose has been giving out. I don't believe that to be true, but that is what Rose tells me. Johanna does make mistakes, as everyone does, but how Rose is handling them is..well, it's getting out of hand. Before now Rose preferred me to hand out punishments and now, all of a sudden, if I try to stop Rose or simply lessen the punishment Rose is giving, she turns on me and tells me that she is her mother and she can handle it. I noticed the change in Rose's attitude months after Johanna was born, but I never thought it would get so bad. I miss my Rose, the woman I fell in love with.
February 13th, 2017
Afternoon
I spoke with Rose when she woke up, and..it went quite well. She apologized to me and promised to send an apology letter to Johanna. She explained she hadn't known what had happened, just that she was feeling on edge lately. We planned a little date for tonight, going to get a bit of dinner and making walk around Upper Flagley a bit this evening. Might be a little cold, but I think we'll be okay. Johanna sent me a letter, I'll paste it to the next page. I wasn't going to, because it does break my heart, but I promised her.
February 11th, 2017
I hope you and mum have made up, I hated seeing you two so upset at one another. Tell her that I apologize for staining the tablecloth at Christmas, I didn't mean to. Or just let her read this letter.
I'm sorry, Mum. I love you. I'll buy you a new tablecloth when I return for the summer.
Lots of love,
Your Johanna.
Johanna continued to write to her parents, small letters explaining how school was going. But it wasn't anything big. Of course, nothing huge was happening during her first year. She made friends, she lost some friends, there was typical teenager drama, and there were assignments that she did awful on in class. For the most part she had a lot of fun and she did well in her classes, and in the end she was sad to leave..but she was also excited to be headed home as well.
Back at home, things were going smoothly. Rose was seemingly back to her old self, and Mr. Winters was more than happy with that. He couldn't wait to have his daughter back so the family could go back to the way it was before. Everything would be normal again, everything would be perfect.
June 30th, 2017
Johanna returned at the beginning of the month. Things were okay for a while, and then Rose started acting strange again. Now, she is worse than ever. She has locked herself in our bedroom and refuses to come out. Johanna is upset, and I am incredibly worried about both Jo and Rose. She has been in there most of the day now, I've been trying to coax her out but nothing is working. She won't talk to me or Johanna, she simply tells us to leave her be. I hate to just leave her in there, but I can't have Johanna here during this, it isn't her fault and I don't want her to have to deal with the confusion and the pain. Going to take her out for a bit, maybe that'll give Rose some time to calm down. I hope..
July 2nd, 2017
Early morning
About to leave for the store, Rose is acting better so I feel more comfortable leaving Johanna here with her. The two have been talking a bit more, which makes me happy. Johanna loves her mother, and Rose loves Johanna. I think she has just had some trouble getting use to having to share her time with me, maybe. But I think she's gotten more use to it. It has been twelve years.
July 2nd, 2017
Late evening
I love you, Johanna. Don't ever forget that.
July 5th, 2017
I found this in my dad's study before the aurors could get to anything in there, and I kept it for myself. I remember how my dad had talked about it, he loved keeping records of things and I know he wouldn't want me to just pass it to them so they could simply burn it or something. I wasn't going to read it, he always told me it was private, but I couldn't help myself. I spent the last few days reading through it, getting into my father's head, and realizing what he did was to protect me. He didn't want to kill my mother, my mother wanted to kill me.
That day my father left me with her she told me were going for a swim down at a pond not far from our house, we knew the old man who owned the property and he never had a problem with us hanging about down there. I was excited, we hadn't gone in a long time because of her problem. We packed up and drove down there, swam for a bit, then had a little picnic on the grass. I don't know what happened after that, she must have done something to me, magically or maybe she poisoned my food. I passed out, I guess. When I woke up I was soaking wet from head to toe, coughing up water, and dad was kneeling above me. Nothing was explained, he simply picked me up, put me in the car and then did the same with my hysterical mother; she was sobbing.
The moment we got home he told my mother to go inside to their room, and he carried me to his study. After making sure I was alright, getting me a towel, some food and a blanket he told me not to move until he returned and I promised him I wouldn't. He picked up this little book and scribbled something down before tossing it back into a drawer and locking me in. I heard them screaming, and I heard my mother storm outside. The fight continued out there, but I covered my ears. I didn't want to hear them fighting like that.
I heard mum call out a spell, one I had just recently learned about and one I never thought I would ever hear and before she could finish, dad interrupted her with an even more sinister one. There was a bright flash of light, and then everything was quiet.
Dad never came back, our neighbor rushed over about an hour later with some people that I assumed were from the Ministry. I was with them for a few hours until my grandparents were called and showed up. I managed, thankfully, to grab his journal from that drawer and wrap it in my blanket before I was removed from the house. Later on I was also given a photo album that was found, only because I begged for it, and the rest of my belongings.
I live with my grandfather and grandmother now, not far from my house. They are still searching for my dad, and my mother is dead. I miss her, but I miss him so much more and I hope they never catch him.
Johanna returned to school the follow September as if nothing had happened, but everyone else had heard about what was going on. At first the attention wasn't so bad, but she quickly got tired of how everyone was treating her and began to tell everyone it wasn't her family; they just happened to have the same last name. Most people believed it, Winters was a common name.
Nothing much has changed since then. Johanna has gotten a bit taller, much more withdrawn, and has found an interest in drawing and painting; something her grandmother got her into a short time after the incident. She only has one or two friends now, and she does spend a bit of time around them. However, she still denies that the Benjamen Winters who murdered his wife and is now in Azkaban for life is her father.
Johanna Rose Winters
Age:
Sixteen
Birthdate/place: [dd-mm-yyyy]
12/December/2005,
Upper Flagley, Yorkshire, England
Species:
Human
Gender:
Female
Family:
Johanna comes from a pureblood family.
- Benjamen Winters, Father, 40: Was the owner of a small shop in Upper Flagley, is currently serving a sentence in Azkaban
- Rose Winters, Mother, 36: Was a housewife and occasionally sewed gowns and other things for Benjamen's shop, now deceased.
- Walter Winters, Grandfather, 72: Now owner of Benjamen's odds and ends shop in Upper Flagley and legal guardian of Johanna.
- Marie Ann Winters, Grandmother, 71: Unemployed, mostly due to the onset of Alzheimer's. Although now very forgetful and occasionally incredibly odd, she's a very sweet woman and gets along with Johanna relatively well.
Appearance:
Build/height-
Short, standing at about 4'10'', and still in the early stages of puberty, basically without any womanly curves as of yet aside from one at her chest that is now slightly noticeable, and another about her hips.
General Description- [Include eye and hair color]
Although rather small and lithe, Johanna tends to carry herself as if she was much taller and much more..intimidating; she found early on that by doing so other students were less likely to pick on you for anything (including your odd size). Aside from her short stature, her hair also often gets her noticed. It's generally messy and often times assumed dirty, hanging about her shoulders in loose, tangled curls and is a very bright, silvery yellow color. Her eyes, contrasting her bright mess of hair, are dark grey with a few dark brown specks. Johanna's attire varies slightly, as she is usually in her robes and uniform while at school, but occasionally does wear muggle clothing while away from Hogwarts and sometimes, maybe during holidays and outings.
Possessions-
A large, old picture album that she keeps hidden in a box under her bed along with a few of her family's belongings that were given to her. She also keeps a separate box of letters from her father and his journal under there, that one she keeps locked.
Personality:
Temperment/Mental Attributes-
At first glance Johanna seems like nothing more than the slightly strange, rather cold girl who generally only raises her voice to stand up for herself or prove someone else wrong. However, behind the relatively thick wall she puts up, she is an incredibly loyal, courageous, and adventurous young woman.
To be quite honest, the young girl doesn't have many friends at all as of yet. She has been trying harder more recently to be friendlier to those she doesn't consider close or trustworthy, but..well, it hasn't exactly worked out. It's not like she never had friends, she had a good handful before her mother died and her father was sent to Azkaban; she was rather well liked before the incident. Afterward, though, she noticed how people changed and how those who had absolutely nothing to do with her suddenly had some sort of weird sympathy friendship with her and the people who were already her friends, well, they pitied her and they babied her. She hated it, plain and simple, so she decided to put an end to all of it; by telling lies. The story changed, she was not the daughter of the crazed Wizard murdered who had killed his own wife of many years, they just happened to have the same surname.
After this, she quickly began to push her friends and potential friends away and close herself off. She didn't want to be bothered with it, or anything, and that's how she is to this day. She refuses to let others in, and usually doesn't say much unless people are having a go at her or..occasionally someone else, or if she has the opportunity to prove someone wrong in some way, form, or fashion. Her inhibitions do tend to lower when she is exhausted, however, so those around her when her when she has gone far too long without sleep might see a different side.
Although it takes a lot of effort, there are those who break down those walls she puts up and get to the real Johanna. Truly, she's a relatively sweet girl who loves to joke, and is incredibly curious about the world around her. She loves to explore, and find new things, have little adventures and what not. She is also very close to nature, almost always preferring to be outside no matter what the weather is. When it comes to schooling, she isn't a top notch student, but she isn't on the edge of failing any of her classes either; she's basically an average student and is perfectly okay with that. Art is very important to her, whether it be some form of physical or visual art or music. She loves it all. Johanna does draw, however, and likes to think she is okay at it..at least that's what her grandmother tells her.
Deep down she pushes others away because she is aware of how easy it was for her previously to trust someone the moment they showed any sort of interest in her, and she is very afraid of getting hurt or believing obvious lies simply because she trusts someone almost stupidly. But as much as she would like to sometimes she simply can't resist the allure of making friends, of letting people in, trusting them; especially when those people are persistent enough to break away her shell.
Alliance-
Not really an ally to any specific faction or group, Johanna will be loyal to and try to help anyone that she agrees with, or helps her.
Alignment-
Neutral Good
Strengths
- Extraordinarily loyal, Johanna will never, ever betray a true friend or family member.
- Courage, there isn't much that Jo is afraid of (at least that she will admit) and she doesn't really notice when things are outstandingly dangerous or..just doesn't care.
- Drawing, although no one aside from her family knows about.
- Leading, she is quiet but put in a tense situation with a group of people who are obviously followers and she will take lead.
- Confidence, it does waver from time to time (as any teenager's) but generally she doesn't let what other people say about her bother her at all.
- Care of Magical Creatures, Jo has always had a sort of connection with animals and nature so she does pretty well in the class as well as Herbology.
Weakness:
- Physically small, not very strong and isn't much of a real fighter without her wand.
- Bark worse than bite, although physically weak Jo does let her mouth run in situations that could get her seriously injured.
- Emotional, however she does try to hide it as best she can.
- Along with not being very strong, the young woman isn't very athletic in any sense, as she is not a very fast or a good runner at all.
- Rather clumsy, which only worsens the above.
- Not very good at flying on a broomstick, obviously due to the two above issues but also because she has a slight fear of heights.
- Might come off as rude or overly sarcastic to others, which can be off putting to those trying to make friends.
Employment&Education:
-Students-
House-
Gryffindor (not set on this, if you see her fitting in somewhere else then you are free to change it! Just let me know!)
Year-
Fifth
Other:
Magical Skills-
Johanna is an alright duelist, but is occasionally rather slow on the draw. She is very connected to nature and animals, which helps in certain areas.
Patronus- A wolf, something that reminds her of her father as it was always his favorite animal as well as his patronus (although the latter is currently unknown to her).
Wand- 9 1/2 Hawthorn with Hippogriff feather core. Rather sturdy with a slight spring to it. Also a bit worn and roughed up, as it was passed down from her father.
Goals/Aspirations-
At the moment Johanna doesn't have many goals, aside from being content with her life and finish schooling at Hogwarts. She would love to be an artist, or work for the Ministry in some form, or fashion.
Other Information-
History-
I hope you don't mind how this is written, I wanted to try something different and I was interested in writing in a journal form. I've made sure to hit all of the important parts of her life, and put in as much detail as I could.
------
December 11th, 2005
Early morning
Rose has been complaining of abdominal pains, presumably contractions, for a day or so now but they were far apart and no where near the severity either of us expected for full-blown labor. Our nursemaid only confirmed it when we contacted her, so we haven't been too concerned. Today, however, they are only minutes apart and painful enough to hinder Rose's ability to move or even speak on occasion, we can only assume (and hope) that this means the little one will be here soon.
Late afternoon
Our nursemaid arrived a few hours ago and began preparation for the child to arrive, and my Rose is currently resting (as much as she possibly can) at the moment after hours of particularly intense labor. I was told that by the end of the day I would have the pleasure of meeting my child, my Johanna or Joseph.
----
December 12th, 2005
Late morning
I made sure to take down the time, as did our nursemaid, my darling daughter was born into this world. I met my Johanna Rose (it was my decision, as well as a surprise, to use my wife's name) this morning at 4:37 AM. She's beautiful, absolutely perfect in every way, and particularly quiet when it comes to her crying; something I'll have to get use to as all of my younger siblings and infants I've spent time around were screamers. Perhaps she'll get louder over time. It's hard to say who she resembles most, but I see much more of lovely Rose in her than myself.
----
June 20th, 2006
Early afternoon
I've neglected my journal for some time now, but I simply cannot tear myself away from Johanna. It's bad enough having to leave her and Rose while I work, I couldn't imagine spending time by myself instead of spending every free second of my time with her. She is just over six months along now, and is most definitely a miniature Rose when it comes to appearance so far. She's still a relatively quiet infant, and compared to the other children I've been around, very easy to take care of. We began taking her for short strolls a month or so ago and she perks up while outside, I figured it was all the new colors and smells and noises. It's slow around our part of Upper Flagley, not too loud and boisterous, and the small amount of people who like to roam about are very friendly. Perfect for Johanna.
----
October 23rd, 2006
Evening
Johanna and Rose are already asleep, and I plan on joining them soon but I felt the need to update this little book first. Again, it's been a few months, but I figured I wouldn't be able to keep up once Johanna was around. She's gotten much more lively now that she can move around on her own, and is even walking unaided for a few minutes before falling or deciding that crawling is safer. She gets into everything, such a curious little girl, and is now incredibly interested in the cat that we keep. We try to keep her away from it, afraid she will try to hurt it or scare it and end up being hurt herself, but the cat seems just as interested in her. She says mama and dada now, her first being mama. We think that she's been trying to say cat recently, which isn't a surprise with how much her mother and I have been saying it.
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December 12th, 2006
Early evening
Not going to write a lot as I am exhausted and need to get Johanna to bed. Just wanted to update on my darling daughter's first birthday. The three of us, as well as my parents, spent part of the day at my shop celebrating and then came home to have a warm dinner and a bit of cake. Jo wasn't particularly happy with the mess she made with the cake she was given, but I believe she had fun. She says cat now, constantly. I also wanted to make a note of how strange Rose has been acting lately, perhaps she's not feeling well..
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December 23rd, 2010
Huh, I completely forgot about this little thing. I found it today in my desk drawer and I've obviously neglected it for years. Well, my little Johanna is five now. She is a little ball of energy, and is already giving me gray hairs. She loves being outside, exploring, and has just recently realized that she can climb things without help and can avoid getting into trouble for such if she jumps off the object before her mother or myself catch her. She's already skinned up her knees and hands twice this week, I'm just waiting for a broken arm. She's starting to show early signs of magical ability, which is no surprise, but it's nothing concrete or major. It could also be me wanting her to be just as magical as the rest of her family and making things up, however. I see that I mentioned Rose's odd behavior in my last entry and I am sad to say that such behavior only continues. In the years since Johanna's birth she has slowly withdrawn inside of herself, being rather quiet and mousy, which is nothing like the Rose I know. It seems more and more each year she is spending less time with Johanna and I, and more time on her own. I've asked her about it several times and it only ends in arguements, so now I try to avoid the issue as much as possible. I worry about her, and I believe Johanna is beginning to as well.
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In the years between this entry and the next, Mr. Winters continued to write weekly, updating little things and commenting on his wife's odd behavior. Johanna only continued to be adventurous and rather rambunctious as she grew. Each year she was granted more freedom when it came to roaming about outside on her own, and she would venture further and further into the shallow woods behind their small home in Upper Flagley. Usuallly her father joined her, but there were times when she went on her own (without permission). Her magical abilities came through in odd ways, she was able to almost tame wild animals for a very short periods of times so she could touch, pet, or even feed the small creatures in the woods around her home. Mrs. Winters, for some time, only grew farther apart from her little family until Johanna was about eight. She went to Mr. Winters, explaining that she had missed the days when it was just the two of them, spending their free time out and about. He was understanding and began to ask his parents to watch Johanna for a few hours every week while he and Rose spent some time alone. Things seemed to get better, and Rose was involved in the lives of her husband and daughter once again. Things were back to normal.
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July 30th, 2016
Afternoon
This morning Johanna received her acceptance letter to Hogwarts, which is the school both my wife and I graduated from, as well as my father. It is very exciting, and Johanna has been bouncing off the walls all day long and re-reading the letter over and over. It's so nice to see her so happy about going off to school, I think she'll be a little more nervous when she realizes she won't be around her family as much as she has been. I know I will miss her dearly, as will her mother and her grandparents. Speaking of that, I can't help but notice how attached Johanna has gotten to my mother, the two of them are utterly adorable together. It's so sweet. I told her today about this little journal of mine, and of course she immediately wanted to read it. I explained it was private things, but if she would write me everyday while she was at school I would add her letters to the book. As far as I can tell, that made her rather happy and she promised me she'd write every single day, although I'm sure it'll be more a weekly or monthly thing. She's so excited, the whole family is.
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After this entry Mr. Winters stopped recording his own writings, pasting Johanna's letters on the blank pages instead.
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September 20th, 2016
I miss you and mother so horribly, I didn't realize how hard it would be being apart from home. But it isn't all bad, I've made a few friends already and I've spent a good deal of time with them outside of class as well as during class. Speaking of that, I was sorted in Gryffindor! The hat, the magical one they put on me, mentioned you. It told me you had been sorted into Gryffindor as well, but I still can't remember where mother said she had been sorted. Ravenclaw, wasn't it? I love all of my classes so far, although some of them have been a little tough but I think I'll settle in later on in the year. I miss you, and I miss mother. You're going to let her read these too, right? I want her to read them too. I'm sure she's just as interested in what I'm doing here. And ask her to write me as well, please? I'd like to hear from her..
With lots of love,
Johanna.
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Her letters weren't much different from that during her first year. Simple ramblings from an eleven year old, really. Her father would write back, but it was never very much. He was keeping himself busy with the store and it seemed now that Johanna wasn't around, Rose was much more interested in spending time with her husband. She even started going to work with him, following him about and helping as much as she could, clinging and cuddling, not exactly things she had done since long before Johanna was born. He found it strange, but thought it was because it had been the first time in a very long time that it was simply the two of them again. Her mother never wrote her, said that it was enough that her father was writing and she didn't want to waste parchment and ink. Johanna decided to go home for the holidays her first year, as many students would, as she beyond homesick by the time holiday rolled around.
Her father didn't write during the holiday, seeing as it took up time he could be spending with his family. Rose started to act strange again. She seemed to be almost constantly frustrated with Johanna, any little thing she did wrong would end in severe punishments. There were times when Rose made up things to punish Johanna for, and of course when Mr. Winters would step in it would only cause a fight between the two. That seemed to happen more often, and more often Johanna found herself in her room listening to the muffled screams of her parents as they fought.
Her parent's relationship was still a bit rocky when Johanna returned the school, and she tried her hardest to write home more often with that in mind. Her father continued to paste her letters in his journal, but now he would hardly ever return them. If he did it was only to tell her how much he missed her, as did her mother, and how much the two of them loved her. It worried her. Sure, before now he had never wrote a book when replying to her letters, but he had certainly always wrote more than that.
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February 12th, 2017
Late evening
Rose is asleep, and even though I wanted to keep this strictly Johanna's letters until she returned home from school, I decided that I needed to write. I thought that maybe it would help calm me down and realize that what Rose is doing is understandable, fixable, something I can help her with. But I don't even know where to start with her. It's like she loathes her own daughter, or maybe I'm just so infatuated with Johanna that I can't see past her being innocent to notice that she's done something worth the punishments Rose has been giving out. I don't believe that to be true, but that is what Rose tells me. Johanna does make mistakes, as everyone does, but how Rose is handling them is..well, it's getting out of hand. Before now Rose preferred me to hand out punishments and now, all of a sudden, if I try to stop Rose or simply lessen the punishment Rose is giving, she turns on me and tells me that she is her mother and she can handle it. I noticed the change in Rose's attitude months after Johanna was born, but I never thought it would get so bad. I miss my Rose, the woman I fell in love with.
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February 13th, 2017
Afternoon
I spoke with Rose when she woke up, and..it went quite well. She apologized to me and promised to send an apology letter to Johanna. She explained she hadn't known what had happened, just that she was feeling on edge lately. We planned a little date for tonight, going to get a bit of dinner and making walk around Upper Flagley a bit this evening. Might be a little cold, but I think we'll be okay. Johanna sent me a letter, I'll paste it to the next page. I wasn't going to, because it does break my heart, but I promised her.
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February 11th, 2017
I hope you and mum have made up, I hated seeing you two so upset at one another. Tell her that I apologize for staining the tablecloth at Christmas, I didn't mean to. Or just let her read this letter.
I'm sorry, Mum. I love you. I'll buy you a new tablecloth when I return for the summer.
Lots of love,
Your Johanna.
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Johanna continued to write to her parents, small letters explaining how school was going. But it wasn't anything big. Of course, nothing huge was happening during her first year. She made friends, she lost some friends, there was typical teenager drama, and there were assignments that she did awful on in class. For the most part she had a lot of fun and she did well in her classes, and in the end she was sad to leave..but she was also excited to be headed home as well.
Back at home, things were going smoothly. Rose was seemingly back to her old self, and Mr. Winters was more than happy with that. He couldn't wait to have his daughter back so the family could go back to the way it was before. Everything would be normal again, everything would be perfect.
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June 30th, 2017
Johanna returned at the beginning of the month. Things were okay for a while, and then Rose started acting strange again. Now, she is worse than ever. She has locked herself in our bedroom and refuses to come out. Johanna is upset, and I am incredibly worried about both Jo and Rose. She has been in there most of the day now, I've been trying to coax her out but nothing is working. She won't talk to me or Johanna, she simply tells us to leave her be. I hate to just leave her in there, but I can't have Johanna here during this, it isn't her fault and I don't want her to have to deal with the confusion and the pain. Going to take her out for a bit, maybe that'll give Rose some time to calm down. I hope..
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July 2nd, 2017
Early morning
About to leave for the store, Rose is acting better so I feel more comfortable leaving Johanna here with her. The two have been talking a bit more, which makes me happy. Johanna loves her mother, and Rose loves Johanna. I think she has just had some trouble getting use to having to share her time with me, maybe. But I think she's gotten more use to it. It has been twelve years.
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July 2nd, 2017
Late evening
I love you, Johanna. Don't ever forget that.
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July 5th, 2017
I found this in my dad's study before the aurors could get to anything in there, and I kept it for myself. I remember how my dad had talked about it, he loved keeping records of things and I know he wouldn't want me to just pass it to them so they could simply burn it or something. I wasn't going to read it, he always told me it was private, but I couldn't help myself. I spent the last few days reading through it, getting into my father's head, and realizing what he did was to protect me. He didn't want to kill my mother, my mother wanted to kill me.
That day my father left me with her she told me were going for a swim down at a pond not far from our house, we knew the old man who owned the property and he never had a problem with us hanging about down there. I was excited, we hadn't gone in a long time because of her problem. We packed up and drove down there, swam for a bit, then had a little picnic on the grass. I don't know what happened after that, she must have done something to me, magically or maybe she poisoned my food. I passed out, I guess. When I woke up I was soaking wet from head to toe, coughing up water, and dad was kneeling above me. Nothing was explained, he simply picked me up, put me in the car and then did the same with my hysterical mother; she was sobbing.
The moment we got home he told my mother to go inside to their room, and he carried me to his study. After making sure I was alright, getting me a towel, some food and a blanket he told me not to move until he returned and I promised him I wouldn't. He picked up this little book and scribbled something down before tossing it back into a drawer and locking me in. I heard them screaming, and I heard my mother storm outside. The fight continued out there, but I covered my ears. I didn't want to hear them fighting like that.
I heard mum call out a spell, one I had just recently learned about and one I never thought I would ever hear and before she could finish, dad interrupted her with an even more sinister one. There was a bright flash of light, and then everything was quiet.
Dad never came back, our neighbor rushed over about an hour later with some people that I assumed were from the Ministry. I was with them for a few hours until my grandparents were called and showed up. I managed, thankfully, to grab his journal from that drawer and wrap it in my blanket before I was removed from the house. Later on I was also given a photo album that was found, only because I begged for it, and the rest of my belongings.
I live with my grandfather and grandmother now, not far from my house. They are still searching for my dad, and my mother is dead. I miss her, but I miss him so much more and I hope they never catch him.
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Johanna returned to school the follow September as if nothing had happened, but everyone else had heard about what was going on. At first the attention wasn't so bad, but she quickly got tired of how everyone was treating her and began to tell everyone it wasn't her family; they just happened to have the same last name. Most people believed it, Winters was a common name.
Nothing much has changed since then. Johanna has gotten a bit taller, much more withdrawn, and has found an interest in drawing and painting; something her grandmother got her into a short time after the incident. She only has one or two friends now, and she does spend a bit of time around them. However, she still denies that the Benjamen Winters who murdered his wife and is now in Azkaban for life is her father.